Table 2.1 shows the keyboard shortcuts that can save you time as you become proficient in Windows. A few of these keystrokes, such as F1 for Help, Alt+Tab to switch between applications, and F2 to edit selected text should be part of everyone's skill set. Some keyboards, such as the Microsoft Natural Keyboard, include a Windows and an application key that give quick access to certain predefined functions.
| Topic | Description | Key Combination |
| Close, Program | Exit active program | Alt+F4 |
| Close, Document Window | Close the active document window | Ctrl+F4 |
| Help | Display Windows Help | Windows+F1 |
| Help | Display Help for the selected item in a dialog box | F1 |
| Menu, Document's System | Display document system menu to control program window | Alt+hyphen |
| Menu, Program | Activate menu bar | F10 |
| Menu, Program's System | Display program system menu to control program window | Alt+Spacebar |
| Menu, Select Menu | Select from the active menu bar the menu containing the underlined letter | Alt+underlined letter |
| Menu, Shortcut | Display shortcut menu for selected item | Shift+F10 or Application key |
| Menu, Start | Display Start menu | Ctrl+Esc or Windows |
| Command, Cut | Cut selected item | Ctrl+X |
| Command, Copy | Copy selected item | Ctrl+C |
| Command, Paste | Paste item from Clipboard at current insertion point | Ctrl+V |
| Command, Delete | Delete selected item | Delete key |
| Command, Delete | Delete selected item from desktop without Recycle Bin | Shift+Delete |
| Command, Find: All Files | Displays Find: All Files dialog box when desktop active | F3 or Windows+F |
| Command, Find: Computer | Displays Find: Computer dialog box when desktop active | Ctrl+Windows+F |
| Command, Minimize | Minimize all windows | Windows+M |
| Command, Minimize or Restore | Minimize or restore all windows | Windows+D |
| Command, Properties | Display Properties of selected item on desktop | Alt+Enter |
| Command, Refresh | Refresh all window contents | F5 |
| Command, Rename | Rename selected item | F2 |
| Command, Run | Display Run dialog box | Windows+R |
| Command, Select All | Selects all items when Desktop active | Ctrl+A |
| Command, System Properties | Display System Properties dialog box | Windows+Break |
| Command, Undo | Undo last effect of last command | Ctrl+Z |
| Command, Undo Minimize | Undo minimizing all windows | Shift+Windows+M |
| Switch, Document Window | Activate the next document window | Ctrl+F6 |
| Switch, Program Window | Activate the next application window | Alt+Tab |
| Switch, Program | Activate Taskbar and cycle through buttons | Windows+Tab |
Using the Mouse in Dialog Boxes
In the majority of cases it seems that only one or two items are changed in a dialog box. In that case a mouse is efficient for selecting the control and clicking OK. Table 2.2 shows mouse actions in a dialog box.
| Control Type | Effect | Mouse Action |
| Check box | Change check box | Click |
| Option buttons | Select one from group | Click to select and clear others |
| Edit Box | Edit text or number | Click and drag to select, type |
| Scrolling List | Scrolls list, then selects | Click or drag scroll bar, click item in list |
| Drop-down list | Select from drop-down list | Click down arrow, click item in list |
| Command button | Choose command button | Click |
Using the Keyboard in Dialog Boxes
If you need to change many settings in a dialog box or using a mouse is not possible, use one of these keyboard methods. If it's too much to remember all these keystrokes, just remember Ctrl+Tab to move between tabs in a dialog box and Alt+underlined letter to select or clear a control. Table 2.3 shows keystrokes for operating a dialog box.
| Effect | Keystroke |
| Move to next control | Tab |
| Move to previous control | Shift+Tab |
| Select next tab | Ctrl+Tab |
| Select previous tab | Shift+Ctrl+Tab |
| Effect | Keystroke |
| Acts the same as a click on the current control | Spacebar |
| Choose active button | Enter |
| Cancel dialog box | Esc |
| Select or clear control | Alt+underlined letter |
TIP: You can Cut, Copy, and Paste between dialog boxes or between dialog boxes and applications. Select the text; then press Ctrl+X to cut or Ctrl+C to copy. Press Ctrl+V to insert text from the Clipboard.
The Active Desktop in Windows 98 can change the way you work and think. Instead of working from a Windows desktop containing static folders and icons, you can work from the Webtop, a desktop that displays dynamic information changing to meet your needs. The Active Desktop can show you static or changing information from your local PC, your network, or the web.
The Active Desktop is one of the most important aspects of the Webtop metaphor. In Windows 95 the desktop displays static information such as shortcut icons to start programs or open folders as well as a picture or pattern as a background. The Active Desktop that is available in Windows 98 makes your desktop a display and work area for constantly changing information. For example, your Active Desktop can contain live web pages, ActiveX components, and Java applets. This enables you to see changes to information that might be important to your work and life, such as currency or stock market changes as well as local weather or news bulletins specific to your interests.
You can turn the Active Desktop on or off and customize it to fit your needs. You can use any HTML page as your Active Desktop. This means your Active Desktop can display information such as the following:
Clicking the Documents command on the Start menu displays your most recently opened documents. When you choose this command, the Documents submenu is displayed with a listing of the files that you have worked on recently. To open a document in this list, simply click on it. Windows then automatically starts the associated application, if it is not already running, and opens the document.
After a while, the listing in the Documents menu can become quite long and contain documents that you no longer are working with. To clear the list, right-click a blank area of the taskbar and choose Properties. Select the Start Menu Programs tab on the Taskbar Properties dialog box; then click the Clear button.
When Microsoft first introduced Internet Explorer 4.0, they didn't just offer a web browser: The complete IE4 package included an optional component called the Windows Desktop Update, which made radical changes to the interface that debuted in the original version of Windows 95.
With Windows 98, the Windows Desktop Update is no longer an option, but instead is an integral part of the new operating system. If you're familiar with the original Windows 95 interface and haven't previously used IE4, you'll notice the following interface changes when you install Windows 98:
NOTE: Because the names are so similar, it's easy to confuse the Windows Desktop Update and the Active Desktop. In fact, even some Microsoft marketing pieces use the two names interchangeably. The two are not the same, however; in fact, the Active Desktop is one small part of the Windows Desktop Update.
With the Windows Desktop Update installed, you have several important interface choices to make. To see the available options, open My Computer or an Explorer window and choose View, Folder Options. Click the General tab to see the dialog box shown in Figure 2.1.
FIG. 2.1 Choose your interface: the Classic Windows 95 style, one that resembles a web browser, or one that combines the two.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
I've opened Explorer, but I can't find the Folder Options choice on the View menu. You're probably viewing a web page in the Explorer window, in which case the View menu offers an Internet Options choice instead. Click in the Address bar, type C:\, and press Enter. The Folder Options command should now appear on the View menu.
Choose one of the following three interface options:
The following sections provide details on the options in the Custom Settings dialog box.
FIG. 2.2 Choose any combination of these options to create your own custom interface.
TIP: Although the Custom Settings dialog box looks daunting, it actually follows a simple organization. Each of the four options includes two choices. If you choose the top item in each list, you end up with web style; choose the bottom option in all four cases, and you end up with classic style.
Choosing the option labeled Enable All Web-Related Content on My Desktop has the same effect as checking the Active Desktop's View As Web Page option: It turns on the Active Desktop. Clicking the Customize button takes you to the web tab of the Display Properties dialog box. Choosing Use Windows Classic Desktop turns off the Active Desktop.
In the classic style Windows interface (Open Each Folder in Its Own Window), the original window remains open when you display the contents of a new drive or folder. If you drill down through multiple folders and subfolders, you'll end up with a screen full of windows. Choose the web style interface (Open Each Folder in the Same Window) to display the contents of each new drive or folder in the same window you started with, replacing the contents that were there previously.
Thanks to the Windows Desktop Update, Explorer lets you view any folder as a web page, using a standard folder template or a custom HTML page you create. web view adds a banner to the top left side of the folder window and an info pane below it; the file list appears on the right side of the window. Choose the top option (For All Folders with HTML Content) to use web view with all folders; choose the bottom option (Only for Folders Where I Select "as Web Page" [View Menu]) if you want to selectively turn on web view.
The most important interface choice you'll make is how you use the mouse to select icons and open folders or launch programs. By default, Windows 98 takes a conservative approach, preserving the familiar double-click style introduced in the original Windows 95 interface. To change this option, choose Web Style or open the Custom Settings dialog box and choose Single-click to Open an Item (Point to Select). The first time you choose this option, you'll see the Single-click warning dialog box shown in Figure 2.3.
FIG. 2.3 Because the single-click interface is a radical change, Windows asks you to confirm your choice when you first select it.
Why the warning? Because when you choose the web style interface, you change the way Windows handles some of its most basic tasks. Table 2.4 offers a side-by-side comparison of how you deal with files and folders using the two navigation styles.
| Task | Web Style | Classic Style |
| Select an icon | Point to the icon. | Click the icon. |
| Open an icon | Click the icon. | Double-click the icon. |
| Select a group of adjacent icons | Point to the first icon, press and hold down the Shift key, and point to the last icon. | Click the first icon, press and hold down the Shift key, and click the last icon. |
| Select multiple icons | Hold down the Ctrl key and point to individual icons. | Hold down the Ctrl key and click individual icons. |
| Drag and drop | Point to an icon, press and hold down the mouse button, and drag icon to a new location (same as classic style). | Point to an icon, press and hold down the mouse button, and drag icon to a new location. |
TROUBLESHOOTING:
I've chosen the single-click option, but Windows ignores me when I adjust the option to underline icons only when I point at them. When you choose the single-click option in the Custom Settings dialog box, you also have the choice to underline all icon titles (as Internet Explorer does) or to underline icons only when you point at them. If you've selected the top choice in all four sections of the Custom Settings dialog box, Windows shifts your choice to web style and ignores your underlining preferences. The only way to force Explorer to accept this change is to select the bottom (classic) choice in one of the first three sections of this dialog box.
Installing the Windows Desktop Update adds an assorted group of advanced folder options as well. To adjust these settings, choose View, Folder Options, and then click the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box. The advanced folder options are listed at the bottom of the dialog box, as shown in Figure 2.4. Table 2.5 outlines the effects of each of these settings.
FIG. 2.4 These are the default settings for advanced folder options.
| Option | Effect When Checked |
| Remember Each Folder's View Settings | Saves the icon view of folder windows; also saves size and position when you use multi-window browsing option. Does not apply to two-pane Explorer windows. |
| Display the Full Path in Title Bar | Shows full DOS-style path (e.g., C:\Windows\System) in folder windows. This is handy when comparing subfolders with identical names in different parts of the Explorer tree. |
| Hide File Extensions for Known File Types | Uncheck this box to show all file extensions, even when the file type is registered. |
| Show Map Network Drive | Adds two buttons to the Standard toolbar. Check this |
| Button in Toolbar | option if you regularly assign drive letters to shared network folders. |
| Show File Attributes in Detail View | Adds a column at the far right of Details view. |
| Show Pop-Up Description for Folder and Desktop Items | Displays ScreenTips when you point to My Computer and other desktop items; experienced users should not check this box. |
| Allow All Uppercase Names | Normally, Windows capitalizes only the first letter of all filenames (e.g., Abc). Remove the check from this box to allow file and folder names to consist of all uppercase letters (such as ABC). |
| Hidden Files | Choose whether to display hidden and/or system files. |
When you use the two-pane Windows Explorer, the view options you choose apply to all folders you display in the contents pane. If you choose Large Icons view for one folder, all folders will be displayed in that view until you choose a different view.
When you use folder windows, however, Windows lets you save separate view options for each folder. As you move from folder to folder, the view changes to reflect the settings you last used. If you prefer to set all folder windows to a single view, follow these steps:
Note that using this option does not save the sort order for windows, nor does it save toolbar settings.
FIG. 2.5 Choose a view you want to use for all folder windows.
To restore folder windows to their default view settings, choose View, Folder Options, click the View tab, and click the button labeled Reset All Folders. This restores the My Computer, Control Panel, Fonts, and other system folders to their default, Large Icons view.
You can set four special attributes for all files and folders you create under MS-DOS or Windows. Using these settings, you can prevent inadvertent damage to important files. To see the assigned attributes for a given file or folder, select its icon and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. Click the General tab to see the current settings for the following four attributes:
| Attribute | Description |
| Read-only | Prevents changes to files and folders. Note that setting a folder's read-only attribute does not prevent changes to the files within that folder. |
| Hidden | Prevents the display of files using Windows Explorer or the MS-DOS DIR command. |
| Archive | Marks files that have been changed since they were last backed up. The MS-DOS XCOPY command and most backup programs use the Archive attributes to perform partial backups. |
| System | Prevents the display of files and folders required by the system. |
NOTE: Windows 98 sets the read-only attribute on a number of system folders, including the Windows and My Documents folders.
For the most part, Windows and Windows applications adjust file attributes automatically. The one reason you might want to manually adjust file attributes is to set a crucial workgroup file as read-only.
CAUTION: Setting the Read-only or System attribute for an object doesn't make it impossible to delete that file or folder; it only adds a warning dialog box to the process. If the file is truly important, make sure you have a backup copy stored in a safe location.
Windows hides a tremendous number of files by default. Why? To prevent accidental changes or deletions that can cause the system to stop working properly. Look at the left-hand side of the status bar in any Explorer window to see how many hidden files are in the current folder.
If you're confident that you can work with hidden and system files without causing your computer to crash, you can adjust Explorer's options to display those files. Follow these steps:
FIG. 2.6 Use this option to make hidden and system files visible.
If you choose to make hidden files visible, you'll be able to easily distinguish them in Explorer windows. In Explorer, they appear as grayed-out icons. (You might have to press F5 or choose View, Refresh to make these files appear.)
CAUTION: There's generally a good reason why Windows sets some files as hidden or system. If you need to change that attribute, just do it temporarily (to edit MSDOS.SYS, for example). Then be sure to change the attribute back when you're finished.
If you use the menus or the Ctrl+A keyboard shortcut to select all files in a folder that contains hidden files, you'll see a warning message like the one shown in Figure 2.7. There is no way to manage hidden files from Explorer unless you make them visible.
FIG. 2.7 Before you can select all the files in this folder, you must make hidden files visible.
You can use Explorer to change the Read-only, Hidden, and Archive attributes of a file or folder. To do so, right-click on the icon, choose Properties, and check or uncheck the appropriate box. Explorer will not allow you to change a file's System attribute, however. If you must perform that task, open an MS-DOS Prompt window and issue the command ATTRIB -S filename. For more information about the ATTRIB command, type ATTRIB /? at the MS-DOS prompt.
TIP: Do you want to see information about file attributes every time you switch to Details view? Open Explorer and choose View, Folder Options. Then click the View tab and scroll through the list of Advanced Settings. Check the option labeled Show File Attributes in Details View and click OK.
The full two-pane Explorer view can be overwhelming, particularly when you just want to reorganize files among a handful of subfolders in a single location. The solution is to create shortcuts for each task. It's possible to launch a copy of Explorer that opens at the location where you want to work. Even better is to restrict the display of objects in the left-hand pane so that it includes only the drives or folders with which you want to work.
If you create a shortcut with only the command explorer, you'll open the default two-pane Windows Explorer, with all resources visible in the All Folders pane. To reduce the clutter, you'll need to use command-line switches along with the Explorer command. Specifically, follow the command with the /e switch to force it to open in two-pane mode (use /n to specify a single-pane window instead). Normally, Explorer uses Desktop as the root of the All Folders pane, but you can specify any drive or folder to fill this role. When you do, the display becomes much less confusing. Use the /root, object switch to restrict the scope of the All Folders pane to the object you specify. In place of object, substitute the name of a network server (in UNC format), a local drive, or a folder.
ON THE WEB: For a detailed explanation of all the options you can use when creating an Explorer shortcut, read the Microsoft Knowledge Base article "Command-Line Switches for Windows Explorer." You'll find it at
http://premium.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q130/5/10.asp
To open a two-pane Explorer window that includes only files and folders on drive C:, for example, follow these steps:
Even the most compulsive file-naming system can't tell you exactly what's in every file on your hard drive. Using Windows Explorer, you can examine a file's name, type, size, and the date it was last modified. But to see the contents of a file, you'll need to open it with its associated application--or use Windows' Quick View utility to peek inside.
To view the contents of a file, right-click on the file and choose Quick View. A Quick View window like the one shown in Figure 2.8 appears.
NOTE: Quick View isn't installed as part of the Typical Windows setup option.
Although Quick View is useful, it's far from perfect. It supports only a limited number of file types, for example, and you can't copy the file's contents to the Windows Clipboard or print the file. The version of Quick View included with Windows 98 lets you view simple text and graphics files and those created by some word processing programs; unlike its Windows 95 predecessor, it allows you to view files created by Office 97 applications.
FIG. 2.8 Use the Quick View utility to see the contents of a file without opening it.
ON THE WEB: If you use Quick View regularly, consider purchasing the full commercial version from its developer: Inso software. Quick View Plus adds support for hundreds of file types. It also enables you to copy text and graphics to the Windows Clipboard or send a file directly to a printer without having to open the application. For more details, go to
http://www.inso.com